Kingston is a bit of a mess at the moment, in terms of buses anyway. There have been contract changes, diversions, new routes and transfers, all in the space of a month and this post will report them all, as I covered them today (12th August). I'm going to start in chronological order, so first up it's the 57/85 changes.
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| Great number plate! WVL157 on route 85, before the changeover. | | |
On the 2nd July 2016, route 85 (running from Kingston-Putney Bridge) was lost from Go-Ahead to London United, from Tolworth (TV) garage, with brand new Gemini 3's with the new RATP moquette. The old 85 ran from Putney (AF) garage, with a mixture of WVL-class Gemini buses and the three B9TL Enviro 400's, which can now be found on route 213. The route runs via Kingston Hospital, Roehampton and Putney Heath, meaning it is quite short and I think it should be extended to Hammersmith, to relieve the 72 and create a direct link between there and Kingston. One month and twelve days after the contract change (yes I know this is late) I took a trip down to Kingston to cover the route change, although I didn't ride it because I was 2 hours behind schedule.....
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| London United VH45175 on Eden Street, Kingston |
The buses are similar to the ones in use on route 65 at Fulwell (FW) garage, but the review of the bus type will take place later in the post. Overall, I'm glad that London United have won the 85 to compensate for the loss of major route 57 and so far they're doing a pretty good job.
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| A Scania OmniCity on route 65 overtakes TA239 on Eden Street, working route 57 to Clapham Park. |
The 57 is a long and busy route running from Kingston-Clapham Park (which isn't in Clapham, it's closer to Streatham Hill) through Norbiton, Wimbledon, Tooting and Streatham. It's a very frequent route, running up to every six minutes in the rush hour, meaning 28 buses were required for the new contract, starting on the 2nd July 2016. Instead of buying new buses, Go-Ahead used an existing batch of Enviro 400s displaced from route 345, after it was lost to Abellio. E100-128 went straight to Merton (AL) garage, some without refurbishment, to work route 57 on time. A Gemini 2 has also been transferred as a spare.
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| Go-Ahead London E115 working route 57 on Eden Street. |
Eager to try out the new 57, I travelled to Kingston one evening to get on one, only as far as Wimbledon. E127 came immediately, a bus transferred from Camberwell (Q) garage, without refurbishment. Some of the buses have been refurbished, but they are going one by one, so it will take a long time before completion. E127 was certainly in desperate need of one, having iBus and door issues, a roaring and very slow and sluggish progress, with evidence of the bus struggling along the Coombe Road Flyover. On the section between Kingston and Wimbledon, the routeing itself is pretty boring and slow running meant that I lost hope in having fun on the route and I couldn't wait to get off, feeling disappointed and hoping that the route between Wimbledon and Clapham Park was miles better and the bus wasn't broken. If I'm honest, I wish the 57 had stayed with London United, as the buses used on the route were much more interesting and it means that they won't run any services East of Tooting anymore, which is a shame as they are a West London operator and it was strange seeing them in the heart of South London. Having said that, I wish Go-Ahead luck with the job of running route 57 and I do hope that the service improves too, as it's been pretty bunchy over the past couple of weeks.
As well as the contract changes, new buses arrived for two routes that were retained by London United on a new contract. A full allocation of Enviro 200 MMCs were ordered for route 265, running between Tolworth and Putney Bridge, via the A3, Roehampton and Barnes. The much loved Dart Pointers that used to work the route have been transferred to other garages and have been replaced by vehicles that are far superior, in my opinion. To coincide with the route getting new buses, I decided to ride it end to end. The review will be brief as this post is long enough anyway.
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| London United DE20131 on route 265. |
My bus came straight from the garage and got off to flying start on the A3, reaching high speeds despite a healthy loading right from the start of the route. A quick diversion to New Malden revealed that this is a hotspot in terms of passenger loadings and the whole bus emptied out, meaning it was just me and the driver for a few more stops of fast running, until the 265 dips into one of the side roads running alongside the A3, to serve the housing along that side of the road. The long MMC frequently got stuck and had to wait for cars to pass in the other direction before continuing, which meant we went even faster around Roehampton and around the Asda. At this point the bus was running early again and the people who boarded the 265 there immediately got off again to switch to the 85 behind. The 265 still beat it to Putney Bridge... After the break at Asda, the 265 continued heading North, through a dirt track which lead to the Alton Estate, the terminus of the busiest single deck route in London, the 72. Past Roehampton University and Queen Mary's Hospital, the 265 headed up to Barnes, where the E200 MMC suddenly got busy, until a surprisingly large amount of people got off at Commondale, the start point of route 22.
A mini parade of shops and eateries run alongside the river at this point, making the part of the route very interesting. However, an anomaly was that when the 265 approached Putney Pier, instead of announcing "Putney Pier" Emma said "The next pier is Putney", like the riverboat service which goes there....Any explanations? After crossing the Thames itself, the 265 had officially arrived in North London, even if it only stays there for two stops. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience on the 265, it has lots of variety in terms of routeing and the buses are lovely, even though the stop-start feature is a bit annoying!
The final change that took place on the 2nd July was the upgrade of route 65, with four new Gemini 3 Hybrids to make up for a PVR and frequency increase to every 6 minutes, which is a good thing as it is a trunk route and it gets extremely busy pretty much all day.
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| VH45186 on route 65, curtailed to Ham at the Watermans Centre. |
The new buses are a nice addition to the Ealing area, they have working air conditioning and comfortable seats, which partially make up for the window size. I'm so glad that London United managed to retain the route, even with the flaky service they provide, as the buses are decent and suit the route. That completes the contract changes, now it's on to the diversions and new routes!
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| London United HDE4 on route 572 at Richmond, Manor Circus. |
Due to works on Petersham Road, the 371 has been withdrawn for the whole of August and the 65 is on diversion via Twickenham, Teddington and Hampton Wick. To make up for this, three new temporary routes have been set up to replace the two routes, running around the Richmond and Kingston area. As I was running ridiculously late, I only had time to ride one of the temporary routes and that was the 572.
I managed to catch one for three stops from Richmond Station to Manor Circus, where I had the whole bus to myself (not including the driver). The Hybrid E200 was nice and airy, with a good engine sound and a broken iBus, which is always interesting. After a few minutes on stand and a chat with another driver at the bus shelter, I got back on the same bus and sat in the same seats, as you do. The bus filled up at Richmond Station, with people travelling to Richmond Park. The iBus temporarily kicked in at this point, announcing "572 to Petersham, Fox and Duck", which was obviously stolen from the stop announcement even though the 572 doesn't go there, as TFL are lazy and couldn't even be bothered to update countdown in time for the changes. The route itself was interesting, although it was all familiar as I have completed route 371 end to end, the route that this is partially replacing. After a quick pause at the hesitation point, it was up the 65 road to Richmond Station, where the 572 completes its interesting little loop around Petersham.
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| London United DE124 at Cromwell Road Bus Station, on route 565. |
The 565 is the replacement of the 65 between Ham and Kingston, running along Richmond Road until Ham Estate, where it goes round in a loop to return. I was hoping that this particular service would be operated by double deckers, seeing as it's replacing a DD route and it's running 24/7, for five weeks. The benefits of having route 565 are that Ham Estate now gains a night service, whether that is well used or not is another matter, but it's convenient for the residents over there, in case they miss the last 571.
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| London United DE31 at Cromwell Road Bus Station, working route 571 towards Ham. |
The 571 is the direct replacement of the 371 between Kingston and Ham, running via Norbiton and Church Road before completing a loop of Ham Estate to turn around. It seems to be fairly well used and I think the three temporary routes are a success, being very popular with Petersham/Ham residents as they are literally the only way out of there apart from by car.
The final interesting thing in Kingston only arrived a couple of days ago and I was very lucky to snap it, seeing as there were only three in service today.
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| Go-Ahead London 878, on route 213 at Kingston. |
The DOE-class Olympus buses are off for refurbishment at the moment, so Scania Olympus' have been sent from Barking (RR) garage to cover for them this summer, seeing as they would otherwise have nothing to do, being allocated to school routes.
So, Kingston has seen a lot of changes recently, I wonder if the scene will die down, or will it continue to be interesting and ongoing, a bit like the Bentalls Centre, home to the longest escalator in the world, or the "expresscalator", as I like to call it as it misses out a whole floor. You learn something new every day.
I hope you enjoyed the post and thanks for reading!
